Damaged Souls (Broken Man) - By Christopher Scott Page 0,13
his door and she realized they weren’t going to kiss or even talk for that matter.
I am such an idiot, Delaney had no idea how she got into these situations as Greg walked around to open her door. When am I going to learn, she wondered as she stepped out of his truck and he walked her to the door. Probably never, Delaney concluded as she fumbled for her keys and the right thing to say as they arrived at her door.
* * *
This is it, Greg thought to himself as they reached the moment of truth.
“Thanks for driving me home, Greg,” Delaney said as she turned to give him a hug. “Call me tomorrow,” she whispered in his ear as he held her for just a second.
Don’t blow it now, he thought as he awkwardly let go of her embrace and she started to unlock the door. “One second, Delaney, I’ve got to tell you something.”
“I’ve got to tell you something too,” she seemed pleased as she turned back towards him. “You go first.”
“Umm, I’m not quite sure what I want to say,” Greg immediately stumbled, so much for smooth. “Why don’t you go.”
“Okay, Greg,” she paused and looked at him strangely before continuing. “I just wanted you to be the first to know that Mitch asked me to the prom today.”
Greg immediately knew what it felt like to be shot and it took him a second to recover. “Mitch Caldwell,” he somehow sounded out the name of his assassin. “The quarterback on the football team.”
“Of course Mitch Caldwell, what other Mitch do we know.”
His worst fears realized, Greg was stunned speechless.
“Greg, whats wrong,” Delaney expressed concern as she reached for his arm.
“Mitch Caldwell is a jerk,” he avoided her contact and said the first thing that came to mind. “You shouldn’t go with him, you can do better.”
“What’s your problem, Greg,” she asked as he could tell she was hurt by his reaction. “Mitch is okay, I thought you were friends.”
“We were friends in elementary school, but now he is an asshole. Tell him you can’t go with him, I’ll take you to the prom for god sake,” he replied abruptly and realized his invitation hadn’t gone as planned.
“Stop swearing, Greg. What has gotten into you,” Delaney nearly cried. “I already told him I would go, and the way you are acting, there is no way I would ever go with you.”
“Fine,” he said as he turned to walk away. “I don’t want to go with you anyway. Have fun with Mitch.”
* * *
Delaney entered the house crying. What is wrong with him, she asked herself as she tried to regain control and act like nothing happened, knowing Amanda would be waiting up for her.
“Hey, I’m home,” Delaney tried to be brief as she checked in with Amanda in her bedroom.
“Delaney, come here,” she knew her act hadn’t worked as Amanda looked up from her book. “What’s wrong, honey.”
“Greg and I just had a big fight,” she couldn’t contain her emotions any longer. “He acted like such a jerk. I’ve never seen him act that way.”
“Come over here,” Amanda made space for her in bed. “Now, tell me exactly what happened.”
“I don’t know,” Delaney cried. “He’s been acting strangely all week and then tonight he was acting really strange. He barely talked to me all night, but everything was still okay. I figured that is just Greg sometimes.”
“Then what happened,” Amanda asked, already in full psychologist mode.
“We got home, and he walked me to the door, and everything was still fine,” Delaney tried to figure out what went wrong as she relived the last few minutes. “And he said he had something to tell me, and I said I had something to tell him too.”
“So, what did he say,” Amanda asked as she took her hand.
“He didn’t say anything, I went first and told him Mitch had asked me to the prom, and Greg basically went nuts. He called him an asshole and told me I shouldn’t go with him. He was such a jerk,” Delaney started to cry again.
“I’m so sorry, honey,” Amanda took her into her arms. “But, don’t be too hard on him. It’s really my fault, I wish you had told me about Mitch.”
“What do you mean. Mitch didn’t ask me until today after school. I was going to tell you, but wanted to tell Greg first so he wouldn’t think he was obligated to take me as a friend.”
“I should of told you,